The Osceola times., 1887-07-02
ROAST PORK.

(hlaaRn-+Th6
Materially Lesscnsd by the Burning "
pm Armour', Immense Packing Est"o-
iishment.
CuIcAGo, June 27-A million ana d
quarter dollars went up in smoke al inc
Union Stock-yards yesterday. Early III
the morning one Of the employees OF the
Chicago Packing & Provision Company
discovered a fire in the tank-room. In
few minutes one of the tanks exploded,
scattering burning lard over the adj AGENT
buildings, and dozen separate hres were
soon riyalinp each other in the destruc'
tion of the immense establishment
Thou OH the fire was struck out IN the
evening, fourteen and one-fourth hours
after IL started, the smou ldering emoers
continued to laden the air with the fumes
Of roast pork, and five acre oven Will re-
main on the premises redhot for at least
a couple Of days. The Chicago Packing
Il Provision Company's works occupy
about six acres of ground, but the nre
was kept within the district bounded oy
Fortieth street, Center avenue, Forty
second street and the railroads tracks,
block west OF Center avenue This ter
ritory con ntained four large buildings
The main building was SOx415 feet.
In It a portion of the killing was done,
and the hanging, cutting, packing,
curing and other work incidental TO
slaughtering establishment. Except the
curing-reom, in which were l9o6D,OD
pounds OF short ribs, the main building
and its contents are total loss The
curing-room, l0)xl 30 feet and four stories
high, lost its roof, but the stone fire-walls
saved its contents, portion Of them In Il
roasted condition. On the east side OF the
main building was the warehouse,
l20x40O feet, with four stories and
a basement The two upper f1ors
at the south end were used for kill
ing purposes. In the warehouse were
seventeen thousand barrels of mess pork
belonging to Armour a. Co. The building
and much of the pork was wholly de-
stroyed. About three thousand live hogs
were in the building when the fire start
ed, but the com pany's employees succeeded
in getting them out Between six hun
dred and seven hund red hogs were burned
alive in the building. Back of the main
| building was the fertilizer factory, one
hundred feet square, and the engine
| house, 50x65 feet. Both structures were
burned completely.
The fact that no wind was BLOWN
when the fire started was probably the
| only circumstance that saved the ennre
stock yards from destruction. No per
sos seems TO know the origin Of the fire
| Several people saw the blaze stimuli
| taneously as it went through the roof ol
| the tank house. The flames began tC
| rapidly eat their way directly across
the main building Though the hrc
department was quickly at the
| scene, the fire had gained
a volume that no amount of water could
reduce Huge sweeping circles of flames
| went whirlng upward with roar tha
| could be heard for blocks. Twenty en-
| gines and every reservoir in the yard wa
soon brought into play. All efforts OF thu
| firemen and hundreds Of stock-yards EN-
ployes were bent toward keeping the con
| flagration confined to the works of thu
| Chicago Company. II was at this Iunct
ure, while one little squad OF firemei
were standing in a freight car playing oi
the burning tank-room, the tanks ex
| ploded. A heavy beam smashed through
| the roof of the car, smashing Plpemal
| Bakers ankle and knocking Lieutenan
Il liott unconscious. Soon afterward IN
| walls of the warehouse tumbled TO tn
ground, discl osing great heaps cf mes
| pork =. ID. Armour immediately sc
| two hundred men at work removing tn
| meat Charred barrels OF 1T wer
pulled out and carted away. The littl
army tramped over huge piles OF loos
pork and carried big chunks OF it out o.
the railro ad tracks, where it was throw
in heaps. Occas ionally one of the work
men could drop a ten-pound roast in
! pool Of water and splash his neighbor
with a mixture of grease and mud. Two
wheeled carts and big, four-wheele
trucks were loaded from these heaps lik
garbage wagons from the gutter.
Mr.. Armour, in a white hat and ne'
spring suit, ruefully watched the mess o
pork and corn dressed beef being cleare
away, while his manager, Cuduhy, stoo
on an elevation of mess pork and superb
tended the work. In the debris were ca
casses of hogs roasted alive. The charre
bodies, shriveled into shapeless masses {
cinder., were mingled with piles OF bricl
blackened beams and barrels.
After the flames had consume most {
the wood work of the building the Or
still held sway In the great mounds
meat A smoke, thick with the fumt
of tons of roasting PORK, rolled over III
stock-pens and drove into the eyes
the firemeu. Filling walls filed the q
with particles Of brick, binding and su
foe &ng the men. They were at TIN,
compelled to leave thor hose and plung
their heads into buckets OF water. The
they sat in turn, and with handkerchiei
dipped water on their swollen eyelids {
bathed their blistered checks with dirt
water
|